The Osoyoos Secondary School senior boys’ Rattlers basketball team has the season off to a good start. The Rattlers: (front) Aman Rai, Arshdeep Gill and Gurshan Sandhu; (second row) Gurkirat Tour, Benson Cheng and Richard Pasquin; (third row alone) Jotdeep Brar; (back row) Casey Brouwer (coach) Robby Rosa, Gurlal Dhaliwal, Robin Malcolm (assistant coach) and Shayden Stark. (Richard McGuire photo)
The Osoyoos Secondary School (OSS) Rattlers senior basketball team is off to a strong start this season.
The team of 10 boys has won four of the five games it has played since the season got underway with a tournament at the end of November.
In addition to winning three of four games at the tournament in Osoyoos to finish third, the Rattlers won their only regular season game against Keremeos on Dec. 10.
A victory in a January follow-up game against Keremeos is essential if the Rattlers hope to move forward to Valley playoffs and provincials, said Coach Casey Brouwer.
In order to proceed to the Valley playoffs, the Rattlers must win in their home district, Brouwer explained.
In past years this has meant defeating Princeton and Keremeos, but this year Princeton lacks a senior team, so Keremeos is the only obstacle.
“We’ve been battling against Keremeos for years,” said Brouwer, adding that this is his third year as seniors coach and in past years, Osoyoos has always narrowly lost.
“We played them here on Dec. 10 and we beat them by nine points,” said Brouwer. “Our guys came out solid and strong.”
This year’s Rattlers team has four returning players, all in Grade 12. They are Gurshan Sandhu, Aman Rai, Robby Rosa and Shayden Stark.
They are joined by a couple Grade 11 players coming up from juniors, Benson Cheng and Jotdeep Brar.
Richard Pasquin has never played on a basketball team before, other than schoolyard games, but Brouwer said he’s coming to every practice and is trying to bring up his skill level.
“He’s got the heart and the hustle,” said Brouwer.
In order to bring the team to 10 members, Brouwer also enlisted three juniors for the team – Gurlal Dhaliwal, Gurkirat Toor and Arshdeep Gill.
He is aided in running the team by assistant coach Robin Malcolm and support staff Vern Stephans.
The third-place finish in the tournament of the Nov. 29 weekend was achieved in a narrow, heart-thumping victory in the final game.
In that game, the Rattlers were tied with George Elliot Secondary School from Lake Country to the north of Kelowna with just seven seconds remaining.
Rai pulled a nice jumper, but missed. Then Dhaliwal, the junior centre, threw the ball into the air just before the buzzer went. It hit the rim and the backboard and rolled around before going into the net in what is called a “buzzer beater.”
“The ref goes ‘It’s good’ and we erupted,” said Brouwer. “It was awesome.”
Under basketball rules, if the ball hasn’t landed when the buzzer goes, a basket still counts, Brouwer said.
Brouwer praises Dhaliwal, who got the basket.
“He’s my starting centre and he’s an incredible kid,” said Brouwer. “He’s got to be an all-star in a few years, so we’re grooming him for senior ball. I’m glad he’s able to play this year and still play junior and will get more game experience, which is great.”
In other tournament games, the Rattlers began by beating Heritage Christian School from Kelowna. They then beat George Elliot in the first of two games. The only loss was at the hands of Pen High (Penticton Secondary School), which beat the Rattlers by 20 points.
Brouwer is in his sixth year of coaching high school basketball and third year as the senior boys coach.
“I’ve been telling them that I’m not just coaching one year at a time,” he said. “We’re looking long term and we’re trying to build a good program here.”
In January, the Rattlers travel to Barriere, as they have for several years, for a tournament. In the past two years they have won and Brouwer hopes to make it a hat trick.
They then play a crucial game in Keremeos before heading to Salmon Arm for another tournament. This is followed by a game in Oliver.
The Valley playoffs are set for February and the provincials are during spring break.
Brouwer said he is grateful to all the families and fans who come to games to support the players.
He is especially happy that with a team on which six of the 10 players are Indo-Canadians, members of that community have been coming out to cheer on the team.
In recognition, the warmup jerseys of the team have the word “basketball” spelled in Punjabi.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
